Microsoft described HASTE (High-speed Assessment and Satellite Tracking for Emergencies), part of its AI for Good program, which uses AI-assisted analysis of satellite imagery to help disaster responders assess a disaster's scope and pinpoint the most damaged areas within hours rather than weeks. Microsoft said relief workers, aid organisations and government agencies have used HASTE after 23 major disasters in 16 countries since 2023 — among them wildfires in France, floods in Libya, an earthquake in Türkiye and a cyclone in Madagascar. After Venezuela's June 2026 earthquake, Catholic Relief Services received a damage map the next morning, where a comparable manual assessment would have taken roughly two weeks. The free, open-source tool needs a few hours of training on a specific situation and compares before-and-after satellite images to identify damaged buildings.
Our takeStrip away the funding announcements and this is what applied AI looks like when it works: a narrow, unglamorous task — spotting destroyed buildings from orbit — done fast enough to change where trucks are sent. The detail that matters most is the one Catholic Relief Services gives: two weeks of analyst work compressed to overnight. The caveats are honest too — HASTE still needs someone to train it per situation, and Microsoft's own director warns that "fast garbage" is worse than slow truth. Precision, not novelty, is the product.